Solstice
by Elpis.97
Summary: Sakura denounced her coven years ago under the regime of a new leader, but when the council is in shambles and war is brewing, she must return home and face her demons. Witch AU.


Sakura's jaw locks in stress as the tattoos on her upper arm begin to burn under her cardigan, thankfully covered, as she knew the sigils marked on her bicep would be glowing a stinging red to match the molten lava flowing through her veins. The sandwich in her mouth turns to ash as she covers to face in the back of her hand and balls her dress with the other in an attempt to not scream in pain. The moment passes but a faint tingling sensation is left in her arm.

"Darlin' are you alright?" The waitress has a thick candy coated southern accent, out of place of a diner in the heart of Manhattan, but Sakura waves her off with a sheepish smile.

"IBS, but I couldn't say no to a good Reuben sandwich." The waitresses nose crinkles and she puts the check on the table, perhaps to usher her out faster as the diner was becoming overcrowded with guests attempting to escape oncoming storm.

A small television laments on the weather warning the cities inhabitants to stay inside as the weather gets worse.

Another wave of heat hits and the crack of lightning strikes outside hides her gasp of pain. "Okay, it's time to go," she mutters before slamming a twenty on the table and scurrying out, meal half uneaten. Thankfully everyone else in the diner was absorbed into their own worlds and didn't notice a lone inhabitant rushing out.

Outside, the wind was picking up and there was very few still out, many had taken cover or stayed inside for the day as the brunt of the storm began to hit.

She took a glance at her upper arm where the beginnings of her tattoo peeked, its markings a fiery red, an observable change from its normal cool black. Sigils swirled on her arm in protest to whatever was happening back home, whether it was familial strife or a coven takeover, regardless the pain was increasing.

Sakura ducked into an alleyway a bit of a ways away from the diner, vacant except for a few lone trash cans and the remnants of a cardboard sanctuary. Crouching and ducking behind a dumpster, Sakura pulled her cardigan off to get a look at the metamorphosis happening on her skin. The thick band of layers of sigils was swirling and changing meaning and shape, the lone python twirling and hissing over her bicep and forearm.

Covering it in an attempt to staunch the burning, she was interrupted by the chirping of her phone ringing.

Nearly throwing it out of her pocket and hitting speaker, she grounded out to someone she handed spoken to in near decades. "What could you possibly want?"

The icon flicked to life as the call connected.

The person on the other line cooed at her. "Always so mean Sa-ku-ra. The least you could do is greet your sister with kindness."

"I'm not a part of whatever this is, leave me alone. I made that clear years ago. I just wanted to mourn in peace and I wasn't even allowed that."

"We all mourned honeybee. But it's time to grow up and come home."

She tightened her grip on her arm and gritted her teeth.

"Don't call me that. Get to the point or I'm hanging up."

The speaker on the other line let off a harsh sigh, "You never want to have any fun. Coven meeting in thirty. Don't be late or he'll be pissed."

The line cut out before she could reply. Sakura threw her phone across the alleyway, the metal making a small clinking sound as it connected with the opposing wall. Her arm fizzled to a simmer and the sigils cooled down with a connection being met. While not face to face, magic had loopholes and the purpose was met.

A coven meeting was rare, at least for hers. Scattered across the seven continents and consisting of different witch variants, they were together as a necessity rather than familial ties. The closest to the coven leader lived at home, so there was rarely a need to use a sigil call.

Several minutes passed, but as the wind harshly blew against her and the rain ran sideways into alleyway, Sakura figured it was time to get going. Cracking her back to alleviate some of the pain of being hunched over like a beggar, the popping of her joints gave some relief, even though it's momentary.

Grabbing her phone from its pathetic place on the ground, Sakura shook her limbs in preparation for a transportation spell. The storm being coverage for using magic in public, she knew no one was out anyway, it's easier to do it in the safety of an alley than making the trek to her hovel to do it in peace.

Plus, she hated her neighbors and knew they'd be home to bug her.

Taking a scrunchie off her wrist and tying her thick, pink hair into a high ponytail, she shook her nerves.

"Come on you pink headed weirdo; it's visiting your coven. You've done it before and survived, it can be done again."

Taking her cardigan off to expose her tattoos, the python around her twirled in anticipation.

Pulling deep inside her, her spirit rattled and breathed. Death witches were rare and frowned upon. Their magic taboo even among witches. The ability to raise the dead, their bones used for miniscule spells, their spirits twisted for the necromancers use.

Her covens previous leader was a necromancer, leading the way as the first death witch to lead a coven. His band of misfits became her home until the takeover. Her mouth twitched in a frown at the thought.

Her phone beeped with a text.

'2 minutes honeybee.' With the bee emoji mocking her.

"I don't want to do this, but I know I can."

The songs inside her twirled in their hymns, ancient spirits flowing through her veins. The image of her covens home fresh inside her mind, she felt the pull of her magic as the world around her blurred into a myriad of colors. The greys blended as the scene changed, bright reds flooded her vision as she materialized in front of the home moments later.

Dread filled her as she looked on to her childhood home. Years ago, it was cheerful, even under the reign of a necromancer. Animals, dead or alive, ran amuck. Their bones rattling as they ran alongside their siblings. The memory made her smile.

But now, now it was full of despair and chaos. The grounds bare and strewn about.

Walking along the path, she pulled her cardigan back on from its previous position tied around her waist. Some call it a safety blanket, those people would be right.

The front door was open, setting her nerves on fire. The leader was secretive and her covens home was usually surrounded in security. Small drones or familiars acting as gargoyles, letting her leader see all those around him.

Paired with unfamiliar cars in the rarely used driveway, something was obviously wrong.

The coven members that stayed home, rarely left home. Whether under the power of their coven leader, or due to their own anti-socialness, it varied from witch to witch.

"No more stalling," she whispered to herself. Clutching the sleeve of her cardigan, she pushed the gigantic doors open, their creaking not helping the tense nature of the situation.

The hallways were empty, the main foyer vacant except for strewn about furniture, pictures smashed and knick knacks tossed aside. Sakura's footsteps echoed in the main part of the house hold and she made her way towards the meeting room.

Its door was open too, another frightening clue as to what she was called for. Pushing the door open, she tip-toed in, but to no avail as everyone was staring at her.

Holding her breath, she closed the door behind her and walked to the middle of the room and bowed deeply to her coven leader. Her brothers and sisters lined the room, perched on couches and tables, to accommodate the sheer mass of people that don't usually gather in the room. She kneeled in front, as was customary for this coven leader, and awaited to be addressed.

"My darling flower, it's been so long." His voice was dry and crackled, like it had been closed up after some time. She grimaced at the nickname but kept her head down.

"Up dear, up. It's time to get to business." He conjured a plush chair for her to sit in, it materialized in front of his large desk.

"It has been some time Danzo. How can I help you?" She sat in the chair but refrained from getting comfortable, her back arched away from the backing of the seat in order to get up quickly if needed.

"It's time for you to stop running my dear. Accept the fate of the gods and return home. That foolish city weakens you. I felt your magic when you arrived, it's fainter than when you stormed out of here like a child."

"My magic is fine. Death witches don't need covens, and you certainly made it clear you don't need me."

Danzo's face remained unchanged while hers struggled to keep composure. "There is always a need and place for you here. You know this better than I. But I did not bring you here to talk about your fit. It's time you served this coven as wars are brewing between the council."

"War? We've been peaceful for centuries; we have our land and they have theirs. What brought this on?"

Danzo gestured for the boy nearest to him to come forward. "Sai, show her what you know."

Sai's pale hand reached forward, palm facing upwards as magic sparked between his fingers. As a witch of the muses, the arts bent to his will. Small pictures formed on his hand, like a black and white outline of a cartoon. Sakura bent forward as the image played out.

Slowly the drawings showed the figures conversing, silently, unfortunately, before immediately drawing into battle. Fake sparks and lashes drew out on his hand. The biggest tells of the fighters were the sigils on their backs. A fan and a swirl. Witches of the air and sea.

Other covens tended to be a unanimous front, birds of a feather flocking together in harmony. The Uchiha were air witches, with the power of flight and winds at their fingertips. The Uzumaki were water witches, their homes being near the sea for strength. Their fighting was unusual due to the nature of their treaty, many marriages and friendships bonded their covens together.

Sakura grabbed Sai's hand and brought him closer as the image repeated. "When was this?" She questioned.

"Three days ago. The next day they declared war and it's time to pick sides. We will pick neither, but that has never worked. We will defend the stronghold if they attack. You must be here as the final piece in protection."

Sakura collasped in the chair. "This makes no sense. They were brothers and sister in arms in the last war, they wouldn't just turn on each other so easily."

Danzo leveled his eyes with her while she stared at a scratch on the floor. "It's not just the Uchiha and Uzumaki. It's Orochimaru."

Sakura shot up and slammed her hands on his desk. "What about him? You don't get to speak his name."

Danzo didn't even flinch at her outburst, used to her antics. "Cease your attitude before I get annoyed. He's alive. And now a bigger problem than ever."

She didn't hear the rest of his words as her ears began ringing and her body shaking. Turned around at her brothers and sisters as they avoided looking at the pair conversing.

"I'm- I must-" she didn't finish before booking it out of the room. Calling her magic was easier this time, her powers strengthened on the grounds of her coven's home. Shucking her cardigan off and balling it close to her chest, she thought of her apartment, her sanctuary, her escape from this hell hole.

The colors blurred as she was transported to the living room mid-sprint. She skidded before nearly running into a wall, bracing herself against it she collapsed into sobs. Alone in her apartment, Sakura keeled over onto her knees and she grabbed at the wood floor leaving scratch marks with her nails before curling up in a ball, reminiscent of when she was younger.

He was alive and he didn't even try and contact her. It wasn't fair to mourn him and for him to forget about her. Necromancers took to death like bread and butter. She knew there was more to death than passing over on to the plane, but for some reason, his death took its toll. Necromancers couldn't resurrect other necromancers. Their life spans longer than the others, but when they died, they passed on into the next life and stayed. Their bones turning to ash and their spirits bound to the underworld as a testament to their power. If he was alive he found a way to break the hold of the God of Death or he never truly died.

Danzo defeating him and taking his place as coven leader marked the end of her days, the memory burned into the bones of her skull. She came close to ending it, as did many of the other inhabitants of the coven. Kin and Dosu were the first to take their lives under Danzo's reign. She would've followed had she not been stopped.

She stayed in a ball on the floor well into the evening and eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

Elpis: Wow don't worry, any hate you have for me tops whatever you have. It's been years. How you been? How are the wife and kids?

I've been cooking this up in my brain for a bit. I'm sorry if you want my other stories updated. I'm doing my best but I'm waiting for the muse to hit. I hope you liked this.

R&R.

I know it's a bit OOC, especially with the connections and friendships and it's not the usual Sakura take, but, I hope you eventually like what this turns out to be. In the next chapter, I'll add a layout of my thought process to help you understand what was going on.

Love you all!


End file.
